This week we did Genesis 32: The story of Jacob wrestling with God. It was a hard one for me to understand before working through the quotes below and talking thru it with my Wellspring group.
Why did 'the man' (who is GOD) not prevail, or choose not to prevail, over Jacob? This verse helped...
The weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. 1 Cor 1: 25b
And in this quote: "At some point the awful knowledge has gripped him that the one on whose breast he leans sweating and gasping is the God of his fathers, who could slay him with a glance. And for once, since he has no choice, no other hope, Jacob's tenacity is turned in the right direction." -John White
Why is Jacob commended in this quote for wrestling with GOD? He continues to demand instead of humbling himself. (Like I always humble myself. Um, no.)
But then this quote helped me...
"The conflict brought to a head the groping of a lifetime. And Jacob's desperate embrace vividly expresses his ambivalent attitude before God- love and enmity, defiance and dependence. It was against HIM, not Esau or Laban, that he had been pitting his strength, as he now discovered. -Derek Kidner
God chooses to come to Jacob in a way he can understand. Jacob came into the world wrestling with Esau. (After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Gen 25:26) God intimately knows Jacob and how to wrestle just right with him, without destroying, overcoming him. Much like a father would wrestle with his boy. And destroying Jacob isn't what God wants. He is for Jacob. And we were also reminded of how this is similar to Jesus... Jesus wins us by losing.
And while Jacob is a wrestler, He is also full aware of his dependence on God (v.10), which is the part that I may not have gotten before. He is clinging to God & His blessing for life.
"But the question now occurs, Who is able to stand against an Antagonist, at whose breath alone all flesh perishes and vanishes away, at whose look the mountains melt, at whose word or beck the whole world is shaken to pieces, and therefore to attempt the least contest with Him would be insane temerity (excessive confidence or boldness)? But it is easy to untie the knot. For we do not fight against him except by his own power, and with his own weapons; for he, having challenged us to this contest, at the same time furnishes us with the means of resistance, so that he both fights against us and for us. On short, such is his apportioning of this conflict, that, while he assails us with one hand, he defends with the other; yea, inasmuch as he supplies us with more strength to resist than he employs in opposing us, we may truly and properly say, that he fights against us with his left hand, and for us with his right hand.
-John Calvin
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